Can Catholics use condoms?

Catholics may not use condoms as contraception. Within marriage, using a condom during intercourse deliberately obstructs the procreative meaning of the marital act and is morally wrong.

What the Church teaches. Sexual intercourse belongs within marriage and has two inseparable meanings: the loving union of the spouses and openness to the generation of life (CCC 2360, 2366). Contraception deliberately acts before, during, or after intercourse to prevent procreation. The Church teaches that such an action is intrinsically wrong (CCC 2370). A good intention, such as spacing children or reducing anxiety, does not make a contraceptive act moral.

What about preventing disease. The risk of transmitting a serious infection is real and must be treated responsibly. However, the Church has not approved condomized marital intercourse as a moral solution. A condom still changes the sexual act by deliberately obstructing its procreative character. When intercourse could expose a spouse to grave harm, abstinence is the clear moral course while the couple seeks competent medical and pastoral guidance. Love never requires placing one's spouse at unjust risk (1 Cor 13:4-7).

What Pope Benedict XVI said. In a 2010 interview, Pope Benedict gave the example of a person involved in prostitution beginning to show moral responsibility by seeking to reduce infection. He did not declare condom use morally good, approve prostitution, or change Catholic teaching on contraception. He described a possible first movement away from total disregard for another person's life. The Church's doctrine remained unchanged.

The object itself. A manufactured condom is an object. Its moral character depends upon its chosen use. The prohibition concerns using it to contracept or to distort sexual intercourse. Ordinary nonsexual uses of the material are not contraception. Medical questions involving specimen collection or treatment can involve additional details and should be discussed with a faithful Catholic physician or moral theologian.

If you have used contraception. Bring it honestly to confession. A valid confession requires sorrow and a real intention to stop the sinful practice, even if changing habits will be difficult (CCC 1451, 1490). Married couples can learn natural family planning and seek medical treatment that respects both spouses and the meaning of marriage.